E-text prepared by Michelle LaPointe, Kincardine Ontario Canada 2007 THE SECOND CHANCE by NELLIE L. McCLUNG Author of "Sowing Seeds in Danny" Frontispiece by Wladyslaw T. Benda _"Then I went down to the potter's house and behold he wrought a work on the wheels. "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again another vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it."_ ----Jeremiah xviii, 3-4. TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS PUBLISHER Copyright, Canada, 1910. by WILLIAM BRIGGS TO MY MOTHER MRS. LETITIA McCURDY MOONEY CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Martha II. The Rising Watsons III. "Knowledge Is Power" IV. Something More than Gestures V. At the Chicken Hill School VI. Pearl's Unruly Conscience VII. The Second Chance VIII. A Good Listener IX. Mrs. Perkins's Turn X. The New Pupils XI. The House of Trouble XII. Pearl Visits the Parsonage XIII. The Ladies' Aid Meeting XIV. "In Case----" XV. The Sowing XVI. Spiritual Advisors XVII. The Pioneers' Picnic XVIII. The Lacrosse Match XIX. The End of the Game XX. On the Quiet Hillside XXI. Frozen Wheat XXII. Autumn Days XXIII. Pearl's Philosophy XXIV. True Greatness XXV. The Coming of Thursa XXVI. In Honour's Ways XXVII. The Wedding XXVIII. A Sail! A Sail! XXIX. Martha's Strong Arguments XXX. Another Match-maker XXXI. Mrs. Cavers's Neighbours XXXII. Another Neighbour XXXIII. The Correction Line XXXIV. The Contrite Heart XXXV. The Lure of Love and the West CHAPTER I MARTHA In the long run all love is paid by love, Tho' undervalued by the hosts of earth. The great eternal government above Keeps strict account, and will redeem its worth. Give thy love freely; do not count the cost; So beautiful a thing was never lost In the long run. _----Ella Wheeler Wilcox._ THOMAS PERKINS was astonished beyond words. Martha had asked for money! The steady, reliable, early-to-bed, early-to-rise Martha--the only one of his family that was really like his own people. If he could believe his senses, Martha had asked for two dollars in cash, and had distinctly said that due bills on the store would not do! If Martha had risen from her cradle twenty-five years ago and banged her estimable parent in the eye with her small pink fist, he could not have been more surprised than he was now! He stared at her with all this in his face, and Martha felt the ground slipping away from her. Maybe she shouldn't have asked for it! She went over the argument again. "It's for a magazine Mrs. Cavers lent me. I would like to get it every month--it's--it's got lots of nice things in it." She did not look at her father as she said this. Thomas Perkins moistened his lips. "By George!" he said. "You youngsters never think how the money comes. You seem to think it grows on bushes!"